A gift for Christa....

I made this header for Christa some time ago to celebrate her wonderful winter photos...

however

I have been unable upload  this header for her..but I wanted to share with you her

exceptional pictures and the love she has for her and Mike's home in Mayook.

xox

Dagmar

Country Christmas ...

Christmas in Mayook
Dec. 19, 2010

"Christmas in Mayook" held at the community School House ...

a time for neighbours, family and friends to gather ...

celebrating this wonderful festive season ...

visiting, singing, indulging in a variety of goodies, refreshments and good cheer ...

Santa arrives bearing gifts for the little children ... and yes for the "Big Kids" too ...!!!

A joyous night of singing Christmas Carols ...

lots of laughter, hugs & kisses ...

now quieting the room ... as we end singing

"Silent Night"

Christmas in Mayook ...

Traditional Tree

Since 1986 when we moved into our log house ...

we have gone out and found the perfect Xmas tree for the living room.

We would venture out all bundled up ... trudge thru the snow ...

find the tree ... cut it down

and then stop for a well deserved break of hot chocolate and cookies

to gather our strength to drag it back to the house.

Today, as the boys are on their own with their families,

Mike and I do this task ourselves ... notice the truck is doing the hauling now, we have enough strength to pack it out of the bush ... and that's all...!!

Getting it into the house and in the stand is enough work for us ... where are the kids when you need them ... ??

It takes us one day to find and bring the tree in and then another whole day to decorate ...

Beginning stages of decorating ...

Almost finished as night draws near ...

Pleased with the end result ... Sitting back enjoying the lights ...

watching the "White Christmas" movie ...

Stockings were hung ....

Stockings were hung by the staircase with care ... this year I only put up 10 stockings ... normally we have up to 20 ...!! It's going to be a quiet Christmas in Mayook ... we are heading to Alberta to spend the holidays with the kids ... will be strange not cooking for a mob !!!

I was invited to an open house at the Log Cabin Studios in Bull River on Saturday ... spent a couple hours visiting with Caroline and these are some of the treasures I took home ... beautiful display of art, crafts and goodies ...

A couple of cookie plates done up for our neighbours in Okotoks ... spent the morning baking "No Sugar Added" cookies for the Diabetics ... so one plate with sugar and one without ... also added my homemade Anitpasto as well ... Hope they will like them ...!!!

Nestled in the woods ....

My Winter Wonderland

Snow, snow and more snow ... spent the weekend clearing the driveway and around the house. So beautiful, crisp and fresh. I love it .... !!!!
Christmas lights are up, glistening in the dark, warmth of the fire ... just doesn't get any better then this.

Christmas Cookies ...

Baking & Decorating Complete

Well, a very productive day ... completed decorating the last of the cookies, snowflakes and shortbread ...! Yeah ...!!

Now in packages, vacuumed sealed and hidden away until needed. Less tempting that way for nibbling ... !! This week I hope to find the perfect Xmas tins, fill them and send them off to a few of my friends and family.

Next on the Christmas to do list ... writing and mailing out the Christmas cards ...

Happy 75th Birthday ...

Birthday Celebration !
Love you mom !

The family (except for Ian who was working out of town) were home for Thanksgiving weekend. We decided to celebrate this special birthday at the Heritage Inn for Sunday Brunch on Oct 10, 2010. Joining us were a few neighbours and friends. It was wonderful to see the great-grandchildren gathered around Oma ... with a little more help than I think Oma expected with her gift opening ... funny ... the children were disappointed for Oma that out of all her Birthday Cards no one had given her any MONEY ... !!! They think that money is the best gift ever to go buy whatever they want ... !!

After a few hours, (the children were getting bored as you can see them rolling out on the hallway floor) of feasting on the buffet, visiting, laughing we all headed home. Wishing you love, peace, health and happiness always ...!!! Now living on Vancouver Island to avoid the harsh winter in the Kootenays. Oh dear ... what was that I heard ? That it is a winter wonderland there ... laughing out loud ... thought you could get away without the white stuff ... hope you have a great day trudging thru the SNOW ... !!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !

Rural Roads ....

Gingerbread & Glitter Christmas Craft Fair
in
Westaskewan

On display products from Rural Roads (Natures Little Treasures)
Bath Salts, Bath Bombs, Bubble Bath and Bath Scrubs

Kendall has started a new business of natural bath products. This was her first experience of displaying her products. It was a successful weekend and we are so proud of her new venture. Wish her all the best as she travels down this "Rural Road"

And yes, this was her little helper ... Daigen ... we went to check out the fair and he decided it was better for him to monitor the situation from behind he table. What a charmer ...!!!

There was a silent auction of Christmas Trees and decorations with in the hall. This wreath is from Daigens school, and somewhere on the wreath is a Gingerbread man that he created.

Lots of Snow ...

Well, what a surprise when I awoke this morning ... !! It started snowing yesterday and is still coming down. I was to leave for Alberta today ... but because of the poor winter driving conditions I decided to stay out here in beautiful BC ... darn it ... such is life ...!
I was already out early clearing snow so that I would be able to at least get down the driveway. Have shovelled the decks and now I think I'll wait until the snow stops before I venture out again. I'm getting tired ... time to cozy up with a book and a Chai Tea Latte ... mmmmmm sounds good to me!

Tis the Season ...

To Start Baking ...


It's hard to believe it's that time of year again.

Spent the last few days with the Gingerbread Men.

They are usually the first cookies to be baked and decorated.

I find these cookies taste better, when they have had a few weeks to mellow before Christmas...
Next batch ready and waiting ......

Preparing for winter ...

We spent the last few weeks preparing for the winter season. We cleared
trees around the house and the boiler wood pile area. Dragged the trees
out into the field to be able to work on them out in the open, took us a
day to de-limb, stack the logs in the back corner to dry for
firewood then had a fire to burn the slash pile. In the
meantime, Mike decided to install a new boiler heating system. That
was another days work and with the help of our neighbour, we did manage
to remove the old boiler and place the new one. Took Mike a few
more hours to hook up the system before we had heat again. Job well
done ... !!!!

Birthdays ... !

Grandchildren's Birthdays

Daigen age 3 - June 29th

Ella age 3 - Sept 9th

James age 5 - Nov 5th

Craig age 7 - Nov 24th

We had a wonderful time with the kids at their Birthday Parties. Great to have the families together.

Trick or Treat !

Knight Family

Craig, James and Ella having fun trick or treating with their cousins in
Edmonton.

I miss you

A boat at the jetty in Kuredu Island...Maldives...
I am sending this boat to come and get you so we can soak up the sun and swim in the really warm waters!!! Pool boy photos later on! Xoxo, miss you!

Daigen ...

Daigen and Kendall dressed for Halloween
Pumpkin carving done by the whole family ... Ian's speciality ...!!!

Boo ....!

Thanksgiving !

Together with Our Family
Celebrated on October  9, 2010

It was a beautiful weekend for our family to spend together (except for one,our son Ian who was away working). It ended up being the perfect day to put everyone to work getting firewood. Mike and Nathan kept busy with the chainsaws and running the log-splitter. The grandchildren were there as well to help load logs into the truck, as you can see they spent some of their time in the cab of the truck playing ...!!!  Katie, Nathan & Mike loaded all the wood.  I was busy at the house preparing Thanksgiving dinner.

Closing in on lunchtime, I decided to venture down to Oma's woodpile to check if they were going to stop for lunch.  The kids wanted to go up to Oma's house for a visit and have some hot chocolate (oma didn't have any so I went home to bring her some) It was great,  because in the meantime Oma made lunch for everyone ... !!! Lucky for me , one meal was enough for this group.  Called the guys up for a bite to eat and had an enjoyable time eating, chatting and lots of laughing.

I went back to the house to continue with dinner and the guys loaded and unloaded a couple more truck & trailer full of firewood.   Kendall & Daigen arrived to help me set up for dinner, bringing me a fall arrangement for the centre of the table ...  absolutely beautiful ...!!! 

Firewood stacked, tools put away, everyone showered and dressed to sit down to a well-deserved dinner.

Grateful to have celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with our family, friends and those who are dear to our hearts always in our thoughts.  What a beautiful life....!!!

Qualicum Beach,BC

Left Mayook on August 15, 2010 for Qualicum Beach to visit our friends Rob & Cindy. We spent 5 wonderful days touring the area, fishing, crabbing, eating, drinking, etc ... little sleeping ...!! We went to the Old Country Market in Coombs where the goats graze on the rooftops, did some shopping and then went for dinner to a little restaurant for fish & chips ... mmmm ... halibut !

On August 18 we were all ready to go out to do some salmon fishing and trap us some prawns ... we took the boat to French Creek Harbour, launched it and away we went ... NOT ... tried to get out to the open water and had to turn around and head back ... the weather turned on us ... nasty, wind, huge waves ... whitecaps ... ! So disappointed that we were not able to go out on the ocean. Rob & Cindy decided that we would travel to Nanaimo to catch some crabs off the wharf. We were delighted ... lot's of crab ... yeah, dinner for that night. Enjoyed our time with our dear friends, lot's of fun, hugs & kisses ....!

We left the next day for Port Alberni for our fishing adventure in Bamfield.

Fishing in Bamfield

Here we are in Bamfield with friends.

A blog for Christa..

My sister Caroline and I thought it would be fun to create blog for our pal Christa. We wanted to be able have a place where her family and friends can see the fun life she leads.. Look for more from this one very special friend. This is Christa with 3 of her 4 grandchildren.

I will get her a great header and spiff up her blog over the next few weeks...stay tuned in.











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